This application claims priority of Taiwan patent Application No. 090204277, filed on Mar. 21, 2001.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a wood planing machine, more particularly to an apparatus for discharging wood shavings that are generated during operation of a wood planing machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional wood planing machine includes a machine base, a cutter support mounted on top of the machine base, a rotary cutter mounted rotatably on the cutter support, and a drive unit for driving rotatably the rotary cutter. The cutter support is formed with a discharge hole to permit wood shavings that are generated during operation of the machine to fall therethrough.
In the conventional wood planing machine, the wood shavings accumulate on the floor at the vicinity of the machine. Thus, the wood shavings can affect adversely the health of operators of the machine, create a dirty working environment, and can be a fire hazard when left unattended on the floor.
Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for discharging wood shavings that are generated during operation of a wood planing machine.
Accordingly, the apparatus of the present invention is adapted for discharging wood shavings that are generated during operation of a wood planing machine. The wood planing machine includes a machine base, a cutter support mounted on top of the machine base, a rotary cutter mounted rotatably on the cutter support, and a drive unit for driving rotatably the rotary cutter. The cutter support is formed with a discharge hole to permit the wood shavings to fall therethrough. The apparatus comprises a fan unit and a shavings collecting box. The fan unit includes a fan housing, a fan blade, and a drive shaft. The fan housing is adapted to be mounted on a bottom side of the cutter support, confines a blade chamber, and is formed with an inlet port and a discharge tube that are communicated with the blade chamber. The fan blade is rotatably disposed in the blade chamber. The drive shaft has one end secured to the fan blade for driving rotation of the fan blade in the blade chamber. The shavings collecting box is coupled to the fan housing, and has an open top to be disposed below the discharge hole in the cutter support so as to be adapted to receive the wood shavings that fall therethrough, a closed bottom, and a lateral wall formed with an outlet port adjacent to the closed bottom. The outlet port is aligned and communicated with the inlet port of the fan housing. Rotation of the fan blade in the blade chamber causes the wood shavings that fall into the box to be drawn into the blade chamber via the outlet and inlet ports and to be subsequently discharged through the discharge tube.